[returnofcc]

Originally Posted by syr74

I said it earlier, but I think it is worth stating again, IMO the brand most like what Buick seems to be morphing into is Volkswagen. This new Regal really seals the deal, the specs even sound like a Passat.



I can't really speak for the latest LS, but I can tell you that I worked for a man who owned several dealerships in a rather affluent portion of South Carolina for a time after I left the auto industry, and one of those dealerships was a Lexus dealership. During that time frame, think CY1998 through CY2000, Lexus was heavily cross shopped with both Mercedes and BMW. In fact, many of the trade ins on LS sedans were in fact late model cars from those two brands.

As for Buick and Lexus being similar, I don't think that really holds true outside of the reality that they each compete in the 'near luxury' segment for both cars and suv's, Buick with the Enclave and LaCrosse and Lexus with the ES and RX. Outside of that, there is zero similarity between Buick and any other Lexus. As for Cadillac, at the moment there is no way we can really argue that Cadillac plays on the same level as Lexus does, they simply do not possess enough truly premium level offerings, even Infiniti comes closer since their lineup is currently more fleshed out in many respects. Cadillac absolutely has full premium brand aspirations, but until the CTS finally grows into a properly sized 5-Series competitor and they sprout a 7-Series/LS/S-Class/A8 competitor they just aren't flush enough with cars.

All true, I would just like to add on and say that Buick may be turning into a VW, but they won't have any competitor for the GTI